User Agent and Assistive Technology Support Notes

Description

The objective of this technique is to demonstrate how to provide keyboard
access to a Flash MovieClip that is not keyboard accessible by default.
This technique ensures that the element is focusable by setting the
tabenabled property, and it ensures that the action can be triggered
from the keyboard by providing a keydown handler in addition to a click
handler.

Examples

Example 1: MovieClip used as a button

In this example, a custom MovieClip is used as a button. To make it
keyboard accessible, the MovieClip is placed in the tab order using
the tabEnabled. Additionally, redundant event handlers are added so
that the custom button responds to both a mouse click and a space bar
keypress. Finally, the custom button is provided an accessible name
using the MovieClip's AccessibilityProperties object. This makes the
button's label perceivable by assistive technology.

Note: Using a generic MovieClip is generally not recommended, since
the custom button will be perceived as a focusable graphic rather than
a button. Instead, a better approach would be to use the standard Flash
Button component, or create a new symbol with a type of "button".

Related Techniques

Tests

Procedure

When a Flash Movie contains generic MovieClip instances that are used
as interactive controls, confirm that:

The MovieClip instance has its tabEnabled property set to true

The MovieClip instance has event handlers for both mouse and keyboard events

Expected Results

#1 and #2 are true

If this is a sufficient technique for a success criterion, failing this test procedure does not necessarily mean that the success criterion has not been satisfied in some other way, only that this technique has not been successfully implemented and can not be used to claim conformance.